Justice: Warrant issued for Menzgold CEO’s arrest

A warrant for the arrest of embattled businessman Nana Appiah Mensah has been issued in Accra after his investment company, Menzgold, failed to refund client’s monies.

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The Circuit Court, which issued the warrant for the arrest of the CEO of the gold dealership company, said NAM-1, as he is popularly called, is wanted for defrauding by false pretence. He is also wanted for money laundering.

There are also warrants for the arrest of Rose Tetteh believed to be the wife of Nana Appiah Mensah and Benedicta Appiah, said to be his sister.

There are reports the man who once rubbed shoulders with top politicians, celebrities and owns a private jet has absconded with his family.

Photo: NAM1 with Tourism minister Catherine Afeku

They are believed to be in South Africa or Nigeria. Interpol with a presence in 194 countries has been alerted by the warrant.

By the nature of the warrant, Ghanaians are all charged to arrest the businessman and two others cited in the order.

Menzgold has a wide range of clients who found the promised of 7% to 10% interest on their gold collectibles deposited with the company attractive.

The customers are said to include bankers, small-scale miners, top military and police officers, clergymen and women and Ghanaians living abroad.

For frustrated clients of Menzgold who have their investments locked up in the company for months, this warrant is long overdue.

Desperate and angry, they have been demonstrating for months urging government intervention in retrieving their monies.

Seven have been arrested for demonstrating in Ashanti regional capital Kumasi in violation of the Public Order Act, the police say.

But clients have said they are unmoved by the police action. Some have vowed to retrieve their monies at all cost including sacrificing the life.

Public sentiments had been unforgiving after clients of the company ignored several warnings from the Bank of Ghana and later the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) not to transact business with Menzgold maintaining the business is unregulated.

But Menzgold customers enjoying fantastic rates demonstrated loyalty and verbally abused regulators and also branded media houses as pull-him-downs for relaying the warnings.

A game-changing order from SEC on September 7, 2018, finally got Menzgold to shut down its gold dealership.

Since then, the company has struggled to pay earnings and refund investments as anxious clients thronged offices demanding their monies.

After months of a public show of anger by the customers, public sentiments appear to have swayed from nonchalance to pressure on the state to act.

The boldest sign may have been given by government insider Gabby Otchere Darko who is a cousin to President Nana Akufo-Addo who was petitioned by the clients to act.

Gabby Otchere Darko indicated in a Facebook post, the businessman has absconded.

He described the business as a Ponzi scheme, a word many have refrained from using and charged government to ensure Nana Appiah Mensah faces justice.

Menzgold invites those with gold collectibles to deposit it at their vault with a mouth-watering promise of at least 7.5% returns monthly.

In effect, within a year, a client could make 90% returns on investments and at most 120%, a promise which Securities and Exchange Commission believes is – in the least – risky.

The sustainability of this business model was called into question because Menzgold’s promised 7-10% returns on gold collectibles exceed the international market returns on gold which ranges between two to three percent.

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Government has stated in no uncertain terms, there will be no bail-out for clients of Menzgold as the business was not regulated by law.

Photo: Warrant for the arrest of the sister of the businessman, Benedicta AppiahPhoto: Warrant for the arrest of Rose Tetteh